200 
Psyche 
[December 
large workers or small queens in several species approach the 
old queen in size, and more or less of them lay eggs which are 
normally unfertilized. After these come the males, frequentl}^ 
in a large, homogeneous batch; but after this, the production 
of males in nests with a strong queen is very small. The young- 
queens come forth 6-10 days after the males, and the production 
of queens continues as long as the old queen and the workers are 
in full strength, even if there are produced at the same time 
some workers and males. The number of large, egg-laying 
workers in a, strong colony is now quite considerable. The}^ 
lay only male eggs, and if all their eggs hatched, the number of 
males would be steadily increasing and would be many times as 
large as the number of young queens. But this is not the case; 
so there must therefore be some other use for these eggs, and, 
it seems, they must be used for food, and only those larvse which 
receive such an extra albumen-rich food, become queens. 
^Tf this theory is correct, Bomhus and Psithyrus species 
are more closely related to each other than is generally believed. 
Psithyrus is accused of feeding its larvae with the eggs of bumble- 
bees and all of its own fertilized eggs become queens.” 
This explanation, in my opinion, seems to be the most 
plausible, and is very suggestive. If Lindbard’s (1912) hypothesis 
is correct, we have here a similar state of affairs as in the case of 
certain ants (cf. Wheeler, 1910, p. 332) Avhere the destruction 
of eggs insures the preservation of the species. 
In this connection a few words may be said in regard to the 
food of hivebee larvae. Dr. E. F. Phillips (1921, p. Ill) has the 
following to say on this subject: ^^The feeding of the larvae is 
one of the most ardently disputed questions in bee activity. 
The chief controversy arises over the source of the food, some 
authors claiming that it is a secretion of glands, while others 
maintain that it is regurgitated from the ventriculus.” It seems 
that none of the investigators whom Dr. Phillips (pp. 111-116) 
mentions, have considered the possibility that the so-called 
royal jelly with which hivebees feed their queen larvae may, at 
least in part, consist of malaxated eggs^, a surmise which is 
*^That hivebees sometimes destroy eggs is asserted by Perez (1899) in 
one of the preceding extracts. 
